Elance recently released its quarterly online employment report, which demonstrates dramatic growth in hiring among small businesses in Q4 2010.
What this means to me is that if you are NOT investing in expanding your online marketing activities, your competition IS and you are falling farther and farther behind.
There is NO excuse for any growing business to not be doing more online. You might not have the budget of Old Spice, McDonald’s or any other big brand, however you do NOT need lots of money to do big things.
Redesigning your web site, creating a blog, refreshing your logo, and leveraging social media more costs from $10 – $50 per hour, depending on your needs and the temporary consultant (no need to hire a full time employee) you work with. Using services like Elance, you can find the expert, manage their time and pay them.
Elance’s press release reads:

In a traditionally slow quarter, online hiring increased across all categories, with IT professionals responsible for more than half (59%) of all Q4 earnings. The strong demand for talent signals that building online teams will continue to be a key staffing strategy in 2011. The report also reveals the hybrid organization will be a growing trend in 2011, with companies adopting staffing models that include both onsite and online workers. Elance employers are posting more than 40,000 new jobs each month, and online workers have earned over $340 million on the platform.